Archive for the 'Mountains' Category

This series of photos is one of the reasons for us to return to Iceland someday. But not in the summer (or at least not close to the summer solstice). Because most of the more impressive photos of the glacier lagoon you can find on the internet are actually taken during the months when you have a clear distinction between day and night.
Although I knew we wouldn’t see these kind of colours I was still a little bit disappointed. Sometimes you just can be prepared too much.
The other main reason to visit again at some other time of year is of course the higher probability of seeing the Northern Lights.

Of course I’d visit the only publicly accessible UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iceland. The national parc is a must-see for visitors, but since is was raining (at the end of the day my underwear was wet…) it wasn’t too crowded.

On the left you can see the rift one can walk through (most of the others in the area are filled with water, we even saw scuba divers). On the left of the photo is the North American, on the right the Eurasian tectonic plate. The river running through the photo is the Silfra fissure.

And in case you’re interested – the other UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iceland is Surtsey – Surtr’s island. In Norse mythology Surtr is a fire giant. The island is a restricted area, where only a few scientists each year are allowed to visit. They study the colonisation from plants arriving from outside and have to subject to strict rules to avoid contamination.